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Chair of Governing Body 2007-2012 filled by Professor John Coolahan
St Patrick’s College is pleased to welcome Professor John Coolahan as its new Chair of the Governing Body for the period 2007-2012. A distinguished member of the St Patrick's College class of 1961, Professor Coolahan has an international reputation as an educationalist and academic.
He lectured in Carysfort College, UCD and NUIM and extensively throughout Ireland and abroad. He is the author of a number of books and has published over 100 articles in both Irish and International journals. His research interests include the history of 19th and 20th century education systems, the history of educational ideas, policy analysis, comparative education and teacher education policy.
Professor Coolahan retired from his post as Professor of Education at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth in 2004.
Among his public service roles in recent years are:
- Advisor to the Department of Education on the Green Paper in 1991
- Secretary General of the National Education Convention, 1993
- Chairperson of the Roundtable on Regionalisation in Education, 1994
- Advisor to the Department of Education and Science in Ireland’s EU Presidency strategy on Lifelong Learning, 1996
- Secretary General of the National Forum on Early Childhood Education, 1998
- Advisor on the Green Paper of Adult Education in an Era of Lifelong Learning, 1998 and on the White Paper, Learning For Life, 1999
- Member of the Technical Working Group and the Steering Committee on ‘Establishment of a Teaching Council’, 1999
- Member of the Expert Working Group on ‘The Allocation of Second-Level Teachers’, 2001
- Author of Ireland’s Country Background Report for the OECD study, ‘Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers’, 2003
- Member of the Senate of the National University of Ireland, 1997 to present
- Chairperson of the Higher Diploma in Education Applications Centre (HDEAC) (N.U.I.), 1998 to present
- Member of the Higher Education Authority’s Committee on Training for Trainers, 1995 to present
- Member of the Secondary Teachers’ Registration Council, 1987 to 2005
- Founding member of the Standing Committee on Teacher Education North and South and Chairman of this body between 2000 and 2006
At an international level, Professor Coolahan has been Chairman of the Academic Committee of the Association for Teacher Education in Europe. He was a contributor to the OECD comparative study on “Performance Standards in Education”, Leader of the OECD teams on the country reviews of Education in Poland, the Russian Federation and Bulgaria. He was Vice President of the Group de Reflexion to advise the European Commission on Education Training Policy for the Future, 1995-99.
Last Updated: Thursday August 30 2007